I think. I’m really shitty with dates, but I think a year ago-ish, we arrived in Portland. We spent the 4th with my Mom in Frisco, that much I do remember. But we’ve been here a year, and a lot has changed. Too much has remained the same. And time marches on. Here is what I’ve learned in a year….

• Money is the marriage-killer. D and I went through a really rough time in the beginning and I think part of it was due to my obsession about having “enough” money. Then with the uncertainty of both of our job situations, well it made for tense times. I hate money. I love toys and presents. But I would rather not have 1 more gadget if it meant that D and I didn’t fight about money. We don’t fight now, thank goodness. We both have good jobs, but man, that was tough.
• Things happen the way they should. Being a scattered planner, I wanted things to work out a particular way. But life just doesn’t cooperate like that and I had to accept being wrong, and understand that going with the flow doesn’t mean giving up.
• Giving too much is worse than not giving enough.
• Distance doesn’t make the heart grow fonder, it makes you forget.
• I, the MoodyMeow, am not a superhero. I wish I was. I think my power would be to make flowers bloom and smell pretty, or to smite people without killing them.
• After 30, my skin has gone to hell. I’m a blemish factory. It’s disgusting.
• There’s no place better to eat, drink, and be merry than Portland.
• Thunderstorms are miraculous, and worth paying attention to.
• Death has made me fully realize that life’s too short to waste your time.
• Bookstores are heaven.
• How to get from my house to pretty much anywhere in Portland proper. Now, if I need to go outside the city limits, I’m screwed.
• Speaking of which, I need a GPS device rammed into my temple, and have a constant link to my sister who can guide me through Vancouver to Battle Ground when I need to go. It would just be easier if we were telepathically linked so I didn’t have to worry about my phone dying on me.
• No matter what the financial or emotional cost, family is incredibly important.
• My hair is a lot heavier than I remembered.
• I miss my shaved head.
• Pip is allergic to grass….we think. He was allergic to everything in Florida, but his allergies calmed down when we moved. Now they are acting up again. He’s getting bald spots, poor beast. At least we don’t have fleas.
• I don’t miss fleas, palmetto bugs, roaches, black widows, spiderwebs under the house, that scary-ass shed in the back yard of Nebraska Street, monsoons, being under trees and getting wetter than you would if you just stood in the storm, heat, humidity, and hurricanes.
• I do miss the thwap/whusssh sound of the sprinklers hitting the palms in Leu Gardens, red-bellied woodpeckers, bats, purple sunsets, thunderstorms at dusk, the sound of the rain on the chimney-cap, low-hanging eaves and windows that opened, the Nebraska Street front porch, the Rollins Campus.